This text has come to life from the belief that there is a need of reflection on the issue of translation of oral history accounts as a part of researcher’s technique. In spite of the importance of the quality of narrative sources translations, this subject is often disregarded by researchers dealing with oral history not only in Poland but also abroad. So far only the British oral history researchers have been interested in this subject. Therefore in my own observations I focused on the questions of genre classification of oral history narrations, existence of cultural community between the interviewee and the researcher, including the question of whether the researcher knows the language of the researched group or people, I also considered social and cultural background in translations of biographic narrations. I find these matters crucial for proper understanding and translation of biographic narrations content to the reader’s language. Issues raised by me are illustrated with examples of translations prepared for my recent research on national and religious repression in memory of the Poles in Kazakhstan. This choice was motivated by the intention to present my methodological remarks on the most challenging translation available. Most of the analyzed narrations were recorded in Russian, Ukrainian, Polish as well as their numerous dialect variations. Drawing researchers’ attention to language perspective of recorded and analyzed narrations makes one conscious that each time a narration is presented in an academic text, it has already been altered in many ways by the researcher. Therefore I present various methodological proposals, share my observations and indicate that it is necessary to continuously improve one’s research technique when translating and analyzing foreign oral sources.
PL
This text has come to life from the belief that there is a need of reflection on the issue of translation of oral history accounts as a part of researcher’s technique. In spite of the importance of the quality of narrative sources translations, this subject is often disregarded by researchers dealing with oral history not only in Poland but also abroad. So far only the British oral history researchers have been interested in this subject. Therefore in my own observations I focused on the questions of genre classification of oral history narrations, existence of cultural community between the interviewee and the researcher, including the question of whether the researcher knows the language of the researched group or people, I also considered social and cultural background in translations of biographic narrations. I find these matters crucial for proper understanding and translation of biographic narrations content to the reader’s language. Issues raised by me are illustrated with examples of translations prepared for my recent research on national and religious repression in memory of the Poles in Kazakhstan. This choice was motivated by the intention to present my methodological remarks on the most challenging translation available. Most of the analyzed narrations were recorded in Russian, Ukrainian, Polish as well as their numerous dialect variations. Drawing researchers’ attention to language perspective of recorded and analyzed narrations makes one conscious that each time a narration is presented in an academic text, it has already been altered in many ways by the researcher. Therefore I present various methodological proposals, share my observations and indicate that it is necessary to continuously improve one’s research technique when translating and analyzing foreign oral sources.
Treścią artykułu są refleksje nad wybranymi aspektami poznawczymi i metodologicznymi problematyki Polaków w Azji Centralnej, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem mieszkających w Kazachstanie. Analiza tej tematyki jest ujęta zarówno z perspektywy historycznej, jak i współczesnej oraz osadzona w kontekście sytuacji międzynarodowej i wewnętrznej Trzeciej Rzeczypospolitej powstałej w latach 90. XX wieku. Zawiera socjologiczne spojrzenie, z wyraźnie akcentowanymi elementami tzw. publicystki zaangażowanej dotyczącej zagadnień polonijnych, w tym emigracji i repatriacji oraz ze zwróceniem szczególnej uwagi na uwarunkowania i niektóre, np. społeczno-moralne, aspekty tożsamości naszych rodaków na Wschodzie.
EN
The article is a reflection over selected cognitive and methodological problems of Poles in Central Asia, with a particular emphasis on Polish people living in Kazakhstan. The subject matter is analysed both from the historical perspective and from the contemporary one, and is set in the context of the international and domestic situation of the Republic of Poland in the 90s of the twentieth century. This article is written from the sociological point of view, with clearly indicated elements of the socalled dedicated journalism relating to the problems of emigration and repatriation, with a particular emphasis on the conditions and some social and moral aspects of the identity of our compatriots in the East.
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